Improvement in mechanisms for operating sewing-machines



UNITED STATES? EN F9? ELIJAH HOW D, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN A.

. A S. GRAVES, or; SAME PLAoE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MECHANISMS FOR OPERATING SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 176,636, datedApril 25, 1876; application filed April 10; 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that L'ELIJAH L. HOWARD, of Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts, have invented certain lmpro vem en ts in Mechanism for Operating Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification:

- The purpose of this device is to control the motion of a driving-wheel, and is particularly applicable to mechanism for operating sewingmachines in which the driving-pulley is constantly being started or stopped; my present device being so organized-that when the pedal is in its natural position the driving-wheel is motionless and idle but when the pressure of the operators foot is applied to the treadle the friction upon the wheel is removed, and the latter is free to be revolved by the drivingpulley by which it is driven.

My present invention consists in the combination, with an oscillating pedal and the rocking standardcarrying the driving-wheel and the intermediate connecting cam-lever, of a lever fulcrumed to the standard below the said driving-wheel, one end of the lever constituting a shoe to operate upon the periphery of the drive-wheel, and the other end being swiv-. eled to or connected with the before-named in termediate cam'lever, and the whole being so arranged that as the pedal is operated b y the operators foot, and the rocking frame advanced, the shoe is removed from contact with the drivewheel, and the latter impinges against, and is driven by, the driving-pulley, while upon release of the" pedal the rocking frame, by its own counterpoise, returns to its idle position, and the drive-wheel recedes from the pulley, the shoe at the same time impinging against the periphery of the drive-wheel and estopping the latter.

My invention is especially useful where a number of sewing-machines are used in line in one locality; and it is essential that each operator Shall be able to start and stop his own machine Without effect upon his neighbors.

The drawings accompanying this specification represent, in Figure 1, a vertical section, and, in Fig. 2, a front view of a machine em bodyi'ng my improvements.

In such drawings, A represents an oscillating pedal as pivoted, in the usual manner, to

a base-plate or support, B. In rear of this pedal, and pivoted at bottom to the base-plate B, I dispose an upright vibratory or rocking frame or standard, 0, such standard being inclined forward at top, in order that its own counterpoise shall impel it when at rest toward the operator. Within the upper part of the standard or frame 0 l pivot, upon a horizontal oountershaft, D, a drive-wheel E, while upon one extremity of such shaft D I mount the grooved pulley F, by which the sewing or other machine is directly driven. The drivingpulley by which the wheel E is driven is shown at G as mounted upon a main shaft, H, and is supposed to constitute one of many similar pulleys applied to the common shaft H, and which are, during working-hours, always in rotation. The periphery of the wheel E is covered with a tire of leather or other semiadhesive or tenaceous material, in order that considerable friction shall exist between it and the periphery of the drivingwheel G when the two, are in contact.

I'in the accompanying drawings represents a lever, swiveled at its front end, in a suitable manner, to the rear of the pedal A, and terminating at its rear extremity in an eccentric or cam, J, the fulcrum or pivot of this lever and cam combined being at the extreme forward end of such lever, and connecting the latter to a furcated post, a erected upon the base B, immediately in front of the lower part of the standard 0 and below the wheel E, the said eccentric J serving, in connection with a bearing, b of said standard, to receive the counterpoise-weight of the latter.

K in the drawings represents a bent lever. or arm, whose fulcrum is a horizontal rod, a, and by which the said arm K is pivoted within the frame (Land between the wheel E and lever I-. The rear end I) of the lever K constitutes a shoe to act upon the periphery of the wheel E, while the front end of thesaid lever rests beneath and against an adjustable stop or bolt, 0, applied to the side of the lever I.

The normal or idle position of the abovedescribed mechanism is that shown in the accompanying drawings, in which the rear of the pedal A is lowered, the shoe 1) is removed from contact with the periphery of the drivewheel E, and the latter is free from contact with the d living-pulley G, the eccentric or cam, as before stated, receiving the pressure or weight which the inclination of the standard ard 0 assumes an upright position, or nearly so, and the wheel E reaches the immediate neighborhood of the driving-pulley, the bent lever or arm K is, by the combined movement of the standard O and lever I, turned upon its fulcrum, and its shoe'b retreats from contact with the wheel E, the latter being thus left free to be driven by the pulley G as soon as the two arrive in contact. Upon removing i he foot from the pedal, the coun terpoise-wei ght of the standard 0 restores the parts automatically to the positions shown in'the drawings; and it will be seen that immediately following upon the separation of the two wheels E and G the shoe 1) impinges against the former, and instantly arrests its motion, but for which the momentum of such wheel E acquired from the pulley G would cause it to revolve for some titre v 1 claim- 1. The cam-lever I, in combination with the pedal A and wheel E, as a means of imparting the movement of such pedal to'the standard toraise the latter to an erect, or nearly erect, position, and throw the wheel E into contact with the driving-pulley, substantially as and for purposes stated.

2. The lever K, in combination with the pedal A, standard '0, and wheel E, whereby a movement 0f the-pedal is transmitted to the wheel to estop the motion of the latter, substantially as and for purposes stated.

3. The combination of the pedal A, standard O, levers I and K, and wheels'E and G,

{under the arrangement,substantially'as herejin described, whereby a tilting. of the pedal jfromits idle position results in," first, separating the said-wheels-E and G, and immediately thereafter estopping the rotationsof the first, essentially asand for purposes stated.

ELTJAHLEAVITT HOWARD.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. S. GRAVES, WALDO E.'BOARDMAN. 

